.
Carrie Hessler-Radelet, the 19th Director of the Peace Corps, was sworn in on June 25, 2014. A member of a four-generation Peace Corps family, Hessler-Radelet began her career in international development as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Western Samoa (1981–83), teaching secondary school with her husband, Steve Radelet. She went on to spend more than two decades working in public health, focusing on HIV/AIDS and maternal and child health. Hessler-Radelet spoke with Institute for Economics and Peace-USA’s Executive Director, Aubrey Fox, about her views on peace.   With all the conflict and violence in the world today, it can be hard to be optimistic about the prospects for peace. Do you personally feel optimistic, and if so, why? I am completely optimistic. Maybe I’m biased because I work for an agency whose mission is “World Peace and Friendship” but I can truly say that, while those goals are lofty, we’re making headway to achieving them. The Peace Corps is the gold standard for Americans who are drawn to volunteering abroad – who are interested in not just imagining a better world, but rolling up their sleeves and doing something about it. We are unique among service organizations because our volunteers live and work at the community level – they go the last mile where most development agencies, and even host governments, rarely reach. Through intercultural exchange and capacity building, our volunteers and their communities are laying the groundwork for sustainable change that is integral to stability and peace. Speaking a little more broadly, what specific interventions do you think are most likely to help build peace over the next decade? Peace Corps’ unique impact comes from our commitment to promoting a better understanding of Americans on the part of peoples served – as well as better understanding of other people on the part of Americans. Now, promoting better understanding may seem awfully simplistic, even naïve, in the face of urgent development challenges. But if you have any experience leading an organization, working in a community, trying to organize diverse groups, trying to ignite change, you know that there is nothing more difficult – or more powerful – than cultivating understanding and bridging stubborn divides. And what 55 years of partnership in development has shown us at the Peace Corps is that trust, personal relationships, and meaningful collaboration are utterly essential to addressing the most pressing challenges of our time. What does peace mean to you? How would you define it? Why is it important? Peace isn’t just the absence of conflict. Time and again, history has shown us that the greatest tragedy in our world is lack of dignity, opportunity, and hope. That’s why Peace Corps nurtures the leaders of tomorrow in the communities we serve – the rural, the undiscovered, those with potential, who with just a little boost could make a huge difference in their communities, their countries and their world. Are you concerned that the changing nature of global conflict and violent threats (including terrorism) will narrow the space that the Peace Corps is able to operate in? Has that already been happening? Or has that always been a challenge for the Peace Corps and this is nothing different? Volunteers’ health, safety and security are the agency’s top priorities. Although the world is in many ways a safer, more peaceful place now than it was 20 years ago, we must also consider de-stabilizing political forces, from terrorism to social unrest. So the need for Peace Corps’ work – helping to reduce poverty, fostering economic growth, and building relationships in some of the most vulnerable communities across the globe – matters just as much now, as it did at the time of our founding. From the very beginning, Peace Corps has been committed to helping our partner nations build individual and institutional capacity, so they can achieve their own development objectives.  We serve in their communities at their invitation, and our work is driven by the development priorities that they identify for their own people.  So as their development policies evolve, our focus and our approaches evolve, too. One of the most wonderful things about the Peace Corps is how well known it is and what it stands for in terms of respect for other cultures. If the Peace Corps didn’t already exist, could it be invented today? What set of political and cultural circumstances needs to be present for such an idealistic institution to come into being? Absolutely. Peace Corps was founded during the Cold War when there was a distinct need for intercultural exchange. Our world continues to change and I would say the desire on the part of Americans to serve abroad is growing. This past year, Peace Corps received nearly 23,000 applications from Americans who want to make a difference through service overseas—a 40-year high in application numbers. What this really tells us is that, 55 years after its founding, Peace Corps is as relevant, dynamic and important as it has ever been, and that Americans from all walks of life are passionate about the opportunity to serve others. How does the Peace Corps build peacebuilding into its work? In what ways would you like to improve? The development of personal relationships and meaningful collaboration are utterly essential to our peacebuilding efforts. I firmly believe that this approach is not only a hallmark of compassionate service; it is absolutely the key to Peace Corps’ impact around the world. In order to better meet our peacebuilding goals, the agency has undertaken an extensive reform of our in-house technical training and program support to enable volunteers to make a bigger development impact in their communities.  We have also launched strategic partnerships and embarked on exciting collaborations – such as Let Girls Learn, the whole-of-government girls’ education initiative led by First Lady Michelle Obama – to strengthen Volunteers’ capacity to respond to community needs. One of the core beliefs of the organization I work for, the Institute for Economics and Peace, is that too little time is spent analyzing what causes peace as opposed to what causes violence and conflict. Do you agree with that critique? Are their countries the Peace Corps is active in that you think aren’t getting enough credit for their successes? That’s a very interesting assessment because I think we strive to exemplify what Peace really means in the countries in which we serve. Peace Corps has three primary goals and our third is focused on promoting a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans. This is fundamental to what we do. The globalized point of view that volunteers return with help shape their lives and inform their decisions and oftentimes that means having a deeper appreciating for other people and other cultures. This understanding is crucial as we strive for peace. After much debate, the United Nations added an explicit goal around peace to their recently adopted Sustainable Development Goal framework (Goal #16) alongside more traditional development goals like access to safe drinking water, maternal health and access to education. Do you feel encouraged that this peace goal was adopted? What impact, if any, do you think it will have? I think it is important to recognize that a guaranteeing a safe, dignified life for everyone is what we should be striving to achieve. I’m encouraged by the UN’s desire to integrate Peace specifically into the SDGs. Our goal as an institution is to measure peace through indices and empirical analysis. And so what advice do you have for us? What can we be doing to make we are getting key messages to the right people? Are there ways in which our data could be helpful to the Peace Corps? While data is essential to measuring impact, we have found that the personal stories behind that data are just as important. We’ve found that illustrating the successes and challenges that people around the world face can greatly shape interest in specific policy and help contextualize the importance of certain issues. We always look forward to seeing the work of like-minded organizations!

The views presented in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of any other organization.

a global affairs media network

www.diplomaticourier.com

Interview with Carrie Hessler-Radelet, Director of the Peace Corps

Official Portrait of Peace Corps' 19th Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet. Taken on June 18, 2014 at the Peace Corps Headquarters in Washington, DC.
June 16, 2016

Carrie Hessler-Radelet, the 19th Director of the Peace Corps, was sworn in on June 25, 2014. A member of a four-generation Peace Corps family, Hessler-Radelet began her career in international development as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Western Samoa (1981–83), teaching secondary school with her husband, Steve Radelet. She went on to spend more than two decades working in public health, focusing on HIV/AIDS and maternal and child health. Hessler-Radelet spoke with Institute for Economics and Peace-USA’s Executive Director, Aubrey Fox, about her views on peace.   With all the conflict and violence in the world today, it can be hard to be optimistic about the prospects for peace. Do you personally feel optimistic, and if so, why? I am completely optimistic. Maybe I’m biased because I work for an agency whose mission is “World Peace and Friendship” but I can truly say that, while those goals are lofty, we’re making headway to achieving them. The Peace Corps is the gold standard for Americans who are drawn to volunteering abroad – who are interested in not just imagining a better world, but rolling up their sleeves and doing something about it. We are unique among service organizations because our volunteers live and work at the community level – they go the last mile where most development agencies, and even host governments, rarely reach. Through intercultural exchange and capacity building, our volunteers and their communities are laying the groundwork for sustainable change that is integral to stability and peace. Speaking a little more broadly, what specific interventions do you think are most likely to help build peace over the next decade? Peace Corps’ unique impact comes from our commitment to promoting a better understanding of Americans on the part of peoples served – as well as better understanding of other people on the part of Americans. Now, promoting better understanding may seem awfully simplistic, even naïve, in the face of urgent development challenges. But if you have any experience leading an organization, working in a community, trying to organize diverse groups, trying to ignite change, you know that there is nothing more difficult – or more powerful – than cultivating understanding and bridging stubborn divides. And what 55 years of partnership in development has shown us at the Peace Corps is that trust, personal relationships, and meaningful collaboration are utterly essential to addressing the most pressing challenges of our time. What does peace mean to you? How would you define it? Why is it important? Peace isn’t just the absence of conflict. Time and again, history has shown us that the greatest tragedy in our world is lack of dignity, opportunity, and hope. That’s why Peace Corps nurtures the leaders of tomorrow in the communities we serve – the rural, the undiscovered, those with potential, who with just a little boost could make a huge difference in their communities, their countries and their world. Are you concerned that the changing nature of global conflict and violent threats (including terrorism) will narrow the space that the Peace Corps is able to operate in? Has that already been happening? Or has that always been a challenge for the Peace Corps and this is nothing different? Volunteers’ health, safety and security are the agency’s top priorities. Although the world is in many ways a safer, more peaceful place now than it was 20 years ago, we must also consider de-stabilizing political forces, from terrorism to social unrest. So the need for Peace Corps’ work – helping to reduce poverty, fostering economic growth, and building relationships in some of the most vulnerable communities across the globe – matters just as much now, as it did at the time of our founding. From the very beginning, Peace Corps has been committed to helping our partner nations build individual and institutional capacity, so they can achieve their own development objectives.  We serve in their communities at their invitation, and our work is driven by the development priorities that they identify for their own people.  So as their development policies evolve, our focus and our approaches evolve, too. One of the most wonderful things about the Peace Corps is how well known it is and what it stands for in terms of respect for other cultures. If the Peace Corps didn’t already exist, could it be invented today? What set of political and cultural circumstances needs to be present for such an idealistic institution to come into being? Absolutely. Peace Corps was founded during the Cold War when there was a distinct need for intercultural exchange. Our world continues to change and I would say the desire on the part of Americans to serve abroad is growing. This past year, Peace Corps received nearly 23,000 applications from Americans who want to make a difference through service overseas—a 40-year high in application numbers. What this really tells us is that, 55 years after its founding, Peace Corps is as relevant, dynamic and important as it has ever been, and that Americans from all walks of life are passionate about the opportunity to serve others. How does the Peace Corps build peacebuilding into its work? In what ways would you like to improve? The development of personal relationships and meaningful collaboration are utterly essential to our peacebuilding efforts. I firmly believe that this approach is not only a hallmark of compassionate service; it is absolutely the key to Peace Corps’ impact around the world. In order to better meet our peacebuilding goals, the agency has undertaken an extensive reform of our in-house technical training and program support to enable volunteers to make a bigger development impact in their communities.  We have also launched strategic partnerships and embarked on exciting collaborations – such as Let Girls Learn, the whole-of-government girls’ education initiative led by First Lady Michelle Obama – to strengthen Volunteers’ capacity to respond to community needs. One of the core beliefs of the organization I work for, the Institute for Economics and Peace, is that too little time is spent analyzing what causes peace as opposed to what causes violence and conflict. Do you agree with that critique? Are their countries the Peace Corps is active in that you think aren’t getting enough credit for their successes? That’s a very interesting assessment because I think we strive to exemplify what Peace really means in the countries in which we serve. Peace Corps has three primary goals and our third is focused on promoting a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans. This is fundamental to what we do. The globalized point of view that volunteers return with help shape their lives and inform their decisions and oftentimes that means having a deeper appreciating for other people and other cultures. This understanding is crucial as we strive for peace. After much debate, the United Nations added an explicit goal around peace to their recently adopted Sustainable Development Goal framework (Goal #16) alongside more traditional development goals like access to safe drinking water, maternal health and access to education. Do you feel encouraged that this peace goal was adopted? What impact, if any, do you think it will have? I think it is important to recognize that a guaranteeing a safe, dignified life for everyone is what we should be striving to achieve. I’m encouraged by the UN’s desire to integrate Peace specifically into the SDGs. Our goal as an institution is to measure peace through indices and empirical analysis. And so what advice do you have for us? What can we be doing to make we are getting key messages to the right people? Are there ways in which our data could be helpful to the Peace Corps? While data is essential to measuring impact, we have found that the personal stories behind that data are just as important. We’ve found that illustrating the successes and challenges that people around the world face can greatly shape interest in specific policy and help contextualize the importance of certain issues. We always look forward to seeing the work of like-minded organizations!

The views presented in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of any other organization.